what. a. day.

  

I'm having "a day" today.  Feeling a tad overwhelmed with the everyday... bills, meals, bills, money, bills, bills, appointments, bills, meetings, bills, errands.  I'm not sure exactly what it is, just a dreary day even though the sun is shining.  I don't know, I guess it could be because I'm paying bills.  Or should I say, trying to pay bills today. 

These are the moments that make me feel like I really need a double octane gallon of coffee with every imaginable add-in known to man.  All of the very UNhealthy add-ins.  Yes let's use the real whipping cream, not 1% milk that some losers try to pass off as cream.  I mean COME ON, what in the world is 1% milk anyway?!?  It looks like the water that runs off a paint brush when you're cleaning it.  And just forget the taste because there is NO taste!  

Next add-in.  SUGAR.  Oh you read it correctly, yes you did.  I want so much sugar packed in this puppy that I feel like a 5 year old visiting Disney World for the first time.

I'm not done.  Man alive, you must be some sort of wimp if you thought that was it!  One word... chocolate.  I have estrogen therefore I need chocolate.  Someday, when I care, I'll study the connection between estrogen and chocolate cravings.  Until then I'll just continue thanking my lucky stars.  So pour in the truffle chocolate BABY!!

(If I don't have immediate heart failure) After I've finished this off I imagine my day will be looking up considerably.

   

Dwell (...another one of those posts on a serious note)

I already shared my favorite "green" book for cleaning here.  So now it's time to share my all time fave magazine... DWELL. 

Most people, myself included, don't have the income to cover a whole roof in solar panels, or the desire to have a composting toilet and a gravity activated water system in order to live off the grid.  In a perfect world, yes I would.   But I believe the average Joe would agree it's not as "simple as all that" all of the time.

BUT I love this magazine!  It gives an ultimate goal for people like me to work toward.  I have what you might call a give-and-take relationship with the ultimate green living.  Let me explain a little bit...

For now I'm keeping my high efficiency toilet that flows into the city sewer, sorry.  And I'm not quite ready to give up running water in hopes that it will rain regularly in the drought of the summer to have enough water to brush my teeth, let alone drink.  I know I know, I just need to be educated a little more on the subject and then it won't feel so impossible... so just be patient with me. 

  I grow an organic garden.  Grant it, it is not on the roof of my house - the waterproof membrane is pretty pricey, not to mention the reinforcement of the roof to handle the extra weight.  The same goes for my landscaping.  I have a lot of trees, bushes and flowers planted around the house, albeit, not actually planted ON the exterior walls of my house. 

I glean the little tidbits I can from each issue and employ them in my living in every way possible.  I figure it's just like when a person switches to eating organic foods.  You start simple by purchasing what your income can handle.  When you're a new "organic convert", you could go bankrupt suddenly switching out every consumable thing - not to mention your soaps, shampoos, deodorant, household cleaners etc etc - with their organic equivalent all at once.  Then you would have heaps of discouragement on top of all that to contend with!  So we all start with baby steps.  When you go the gradual route you hardly notice the change at all, monetarily $$$ speaking.  One day you'll look in your cupboards and fridge and realize everything is organic - COOL!  At least that is how it was for me.

So that is how I intend to employ my lovely, wonderful magazine DWELL.  You'll agree it's hard to put down once you start reading and without a doubt you will renew the subscription when it runs out!

"I Love A Challenge"... Is That So!

Well now, really! 

Have you ever wondered about those people that say they love a challenge?  Well I have.  I've laid awake at night wondering about it in fact.  I mean what in the world are they exactly talking about? 

Periodically do they bind one arm to their side and proceed to juggle flaming Q-tips?  Do they wake up one morning and decide to tie their ankles together and hop their morning run?  Do they purpose to only use their pinky fingers to type their life's story? 

There is much to be explained and dissected here if you ask me.  Do they love a challenge all day long, everyday without relief?  Possibly once a year on their birthday they desire to be challenged by a great treasure hunt?  Or are they looking for the kind of challenge that comes only on holidays like when the whole entire family, including that weird cousin they never really liked, get together in one house and try to look happy and un-annoyed when the meal stretches out into what feels like 38 hours instead of just 1 1/2?    Hmmm, I just wonder.

I feel like I'm challenged plenty.  Challenges just naturally seek me out everyday of my life.  For instance, to just name a few, every morning it's a challenge for me to put on an outfit that has been in style within this decade.  It's a challenge for me to put on a home cooked meal that consists of more than just one dish.  It's a challenge for me to call my children by their given names rather than the name of their sibling, cousins, father or some made up combination of miscellaneous names that my subconscience has stored up for that precise moment.  Once a month I'm even given a kind of ultimate challenge when the period fairy sprinkles me with PMS dust. 

 If I had many more challenges than what I'm already dished I'd end up hiding in a kitchen cupboard.  So to anyone wandering around in endless boredom yearning for a little challenge in your life, come on over!  It may not come in the form you're expecting like a rushing river and kayak.  But I assure you, I was raised to share and there's plenty to go around. 

Somebody! Anybody!! For The Love of Sanity, Give Me Coffee NOW!!!

Oh dread.  Today is one of those days where I wake up tired.  I crack one eye slightly open, ooze out of bed, stumble to the kitchen in search of help.  (Help comes in the form of by best friend, Coffee.  I only socialize with full octane, his dirty weasel of a step brother, Decaf, has no room in my life, what an impostor!)  I'm trying to gather my wits enough to figure out where in Sam McCrackin' do I store the coffee?!  Even though it's been stored in the same cabinet for the last seven years I'm somehow stumped.  I look around blurry eyed and confused like I'm seeing my kitchen for the first time.  Suddenly it comes to me that it might be in the cupboard with the words "Coffee House" emblazoned on the door.  Okay, found it.  I dump, oh, about 3/4 of the bag in the filter basket.  Next water.  I tell myself this one should be simple to find.  I have a hunch it's near the sink.  Sure enough, I turn a couple of knobs and voila water pours out.  Feeling extremely accomplished I fill the pot.  Finally everything is ready and I turn the coffee machine on.  As soon as I start smelling the euphoric aroma of the brewing coffee I am filled with hope that I may actually be able to open up both of my eyes today afterall! 

      

I sit at the kitchen table drinking my first cup of the day and I can't help but to start lovingly reminisce.   Since I was a little girl I have loved drinking coffee.  I started out drinking sips from my Dad's mug or Thermos.  Then at family reunions I would wait until the grownups were all busy talking and then stand by the coffee maker and guzzle one cup after another.  My family would always end up leaving first from these occasions which always puzzled me, I mean I thought it was really cool how I could climb to the very tippy top of a 30 foot Blue Spruce.  When I was in college I perfected the "Over Nighter" pot of coffee until after just a single cup I could stay awake for 3 1/2 days and recite the Declaration of Independence backward and Forward in Pig Latin.   The man I married doesn't buy me flowers, they die.  He doesn't buy me candy, I only like chocolate... and only certain kinds.  He knows me too well.  When he wants to play Prince Charming he brings home an industrial sized bag of my favorite coffee.  After he hauls it into the house with a hand truck it takes days for my smile to fade.  He learned a long time ago that the fastest way to get my attention is to tuck coffee grounds in his cheeks and under his tongue. 

Maybe tonight, to be on the safe side, I'll sleep with my bag of coffee so I can find it faster tomorrow morning.